Thursday, June 28, 2007

"In this first lecture of the course, I would like to give you an outline of the new understanding of life that is now emerging at the forefront of science. As I mentioned before, it is a conception of life based on systemic thinking and some of the new concepts and mathematical techniques of complexity theory. It allows us for the first time to integrate the biological, cognitive, and social dimensions of life" - Fritjof Capra.

Systemic Wisdom

Page 390 in "The Turning Point"Fritjof Capra:

The recognition of the non-linear nature of all systems dynamics is the very essence of ecological awareness, the essence of "systemic wisdom", as Bateson called it (1972, page 434). This kind of wisdom is characteristic of traditional non literature cultures but has been sadly neglected in our over rational and mechanised society.

Systemic wisdom is based on a profound respect for the wisdom of nature, which is totally consistent with the insights of modern ecology.

One natural environment consists of ecosystems inhabited by countless organisms which have co-evolved over billions of years, continuously using and recycling the same molecules of soil, water and air. The organising principles of these principles must be considered superior to those of human technologies bases on recent inventions, and, very often, on short term linear projections.

The respect for nature's wisdom is further supported by the insight that the dynamics of self organisation in ecosystems is basically the same as in human organisms, which forces us to realise that our natural environment is not only alive but also mindful. The mindfulness of ecosystems, as opposed to many human institutions, manifests itself in the pervasive tendency to establish cooperative relationships that facilitate the harmonius integration of systems components at all levels of organization.

Economic activity that harms the environment creates present or future losses to humans in the form of damaged health, lower productivity, depleted natural resources, and reduced enjoyment of nature. Environmental economics seeks to quantify these losses and determine the most efficient way to reduce them, as well as to compare the cost of environmental damage to the cost of mitigation. To analyze the costs and benefits of reduced environmental damage, economists must compare changes in economic well being today with changes in economic well being in the future. This involves judging the extent to which future generations will have higher income and better methods for mitigating pollution affects.

Of the three factors of production in classical economics, land, labor, and capital, land may be the most difficult to define. Does it refer to just the land itself? Or is land a generic term referring to all natural resources? Air, sunshine, and water, necessary to make land productive, are all part of the surrounding ecosystems. While ownership of land itself can easily be demarcated, ownership of mobile, associated resources is trickier.

The problem is that the way owners use their land may affect others. If they dump garbage on their neighbors' land, clearly they are infringing upon others' rights. But how about if they burn garbage and the resulting smoke blows onto nearby properties? What if they pollute a stream and it ends up affecting everyone's water source, or flush sewage away and it ends up in an ecologically stressed bay? Although the field of economics traditionally likes to deal with items that can be easily demarcated, quantified, and tagged with ownership, this becomes difficult when dealing with our shared ecosystems. Economics has dealt with this largely by labeling such items externalities, costs for which the responsible party does not pay. It then becomes up to the community, and usually the government, to decide how to deal with externalities.

Externalities are implicit in Garret Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons. In this scenario, a shared grazing area eventually suffers from overuse and ecosystem collapse. It always benefits each herdsman individually to add another cow to the pasture, and that addition by itself will cause little ecological stress. However, if each does so whenever possible, as economics dictates, over time all will be ruined. As Hardin puts it,

Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit -- in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.

Similarly, in a purely capitalist system with no government constraints, economic logic compels individual businesses to pollute the environmental commons of the air and the water. If it is possible to save money by doing so, it will happen. Any given business must rationally fear that its competitors are doing so and thereby gaining an advantage. To remain competitive and avoid being put out of business, they must do so themselves. Socialist systems face different problems, being subject to political pressures to maximize short run production that may result in equal or greater environmental damage.

There are several ways to internalize the externalities created by common ownership. One way is to create an ownership interest for the producer. In the example above, a herdsman who owns his pasture has an interest in preserving the land for his own and his family's future income. However, ownership is not always possible, particularly regarding large natural phenomenon such as air or bodies of water. When responsible ownership is impossible or impractical, other solutions must be sought to limit the external costs of production or to compensate those who bear the costs. Determining and enforcing solutions can be extremely difficult because costs are often borne by persons living in different political jurisdictions from the producer or consumer and in different time periods.

To regulate environmental common areas, local, state or national governmental interventions are often required, balancing the interests of one set of producers and consumers with the interests of another set who otherwise bear the costs of the first set. The simplest form of such intervention is to simply prohibit pollution. Unfortunately this is impossible, for all businesses, by their very nature, create some waste products. The trick is how to minimize the harmfulness and/or amount of waste products and the impact of their disposal. Finding ways to compel companies to do so efficiently, while still maintaining the robustness created by a free market system, is the task of environmental economists.

Arising out of Resource Economics, Environmental Economics evolved from work done at the research institute Resources for the Future (http://www.rff.org/) in the 1950s, which began to define the economic values of environmental resources. A more thorough and rigorous definition of the task of Environmental Economics is inherent in the National Bureau of Economic Research Environmental Economics Working Group, which, according to its website

undertakes theoretical or empirical studies of the economic effects of national or local environmental policies around the world, including effects on pollution, research and development, physical investment, labor supply, economic efficiency, and the distribution of real income. Particular issues include the costs and benefits of alternative environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, solid waste, and global warming. (NBER)

Monday, June 11, 2007

Singapore - Creative Digital Photography Competition

"A clean city is a strong reflection of our moral and civic values. But clean cities do not just come by chance. They require much responsibility and dedication to maintain".

STUDENT CATEGORY

1st Prize

Title: Be A Sport, Just Bin It

Caption: It takes a team effort to keep Singapore litter-free. Be a sport, Just Bin It!

Photographer: Benjamin Ng ChiaLiang (SXXX4016A)

2nd Prize

Title: Lazy Is OK!

Caption: It doesn’t really matter HOW you do… Just make sure you BIN it.

Photographer: Selena Soh Ting En (SXXX0121B)

3rd Prize

Title: Throw Litter To Where It Belongs

Caption: Never look back on your decision to keep the environment litter-free.

Photographer: How Gui Lin (SXXX3481A)

Merit Prize

Title: Don't Trash My Home

Caption: Trash not only makes the environment ugly, but also destroys the habitat of living things.

Photographer: Joel LiangYaoJie (SXXX2593F)

Merit Prize

Title: New System of Disposing Litter

Caption: The pupils in the picture demonstrated they took ownership of their litter and what impressed me is the orderly manner they did it – by queuing up, pupils practically reduced the possibility of dropping their litter out of the dustbin to zero.

Photographer: Kong ZeQing (SXXX4773Z)

Merit Prize

Title: Unnatural

Photographer: Vera Li Min (SXXX7737B)

OPEN CATEGORY

1st Prize

Title: Goal!

Caption: Civic responsibility meets World Cup fever...

Photographer:RajivRavi (SXXX3584B)

2nd Prize

Title: Just Bin It

Caption: --

Photographer: Bernard Poh Lye Kiat (SXXX7071E)

3rd Prize

Title: Lord Of The Bins - The Litter-Free Singapore

Caption: The photo is like a movie poster from “Lord of the Ring”. It shows that the canned drink’s tab, though small in significance but ‘big’ in destruction. The many types of dustbins to the rescue, like the heros of the movie.

Photographer: Art Lim Kiat Guan (SXXX1093E)

Merit Prize

Title: Differentiating The Right Thing To The Right Bin

Caption: To show different bin to collect different kind of rubbish.

Photographer:Seah Bee Jan (SXXX9096H)

Merit Prize

Title: Just Bin It

Caption: Be responsible for your own litter and keep our environment clean.

Photographer: Vincent Ng WeiChean (SXXX1262A)

Merit Prize

Title: Throw Paper In The Bin

Caption: The children can help throw the paper in the bin can keep the environment clean.

Photographer: Gina Ng ChingPoh (SXXX5431D)

Friday, June 8, 2007

There is a revolution happening in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America -- a revolution that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat.

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.

From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed by the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

Shot on location in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world's food system. The film also explores alternatives to large-scale industrial agriculture, placing organic and sustainable agriculture as real solutions to the farm crisis today.